New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-02-18
NEW-Y0RK DAILY TRIBUNE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY Is 1881

but having secured a small contract were ablt
to obtain tho timber they required on credit
and renting shop they went to work
Tho enterprise was profitable though at that
time 1t did not take root strongly. Something
separated the partners, and they returned to
work under the old boss" system
Tho idea, however, terminated, and presently
better opening appearing, the same men tried
| cooperation again, and this time they did not
give it up. The plan they adopted had the
supreme virtue Of simplicity. Each member of
the association bought so many shares one or
two generally at first these shares were to be
paid for by deducting every week so much from
the stockholders wages. A secretary and gen.
eral man OF business was appointed, and then
they were ready to begin From the first they
saved and divided the middleman's profit, and
because there was little waste every workman
being an cqua. partner and therefore under obi
cations TO economic, the dividends were good
They paid themselves the highest market wages
They worked steadily and encrgetically. Their
credit and standing grew better continually.
The mill-owncrs liked the experiment and
helped thcm. or course tho "bOsscs " of the
old-fashoned cooper-shops regarded tho new
long as business was good they prospered and
when business became bad they found that they
could stand the time Of depression Better than
under tho old system. So the movement grew
and spread A cooperative laundry was
started and later several other industries have
been added, but the whole question was really
fought and worked out by the Cooperative
Barrel Associations, and these are to-day firmly
established and doing well.
Through the Knights of Labor organization
Loan Associations have also been introduced,
and now thousands Of wOrkngmcn own their
own homes But the most significant and hope
ful fact is that all these things have been done
by the workingmen themselves. There has been
no fuss about cooperation, no preaching about
1t. no outside agitation, no artificial stimulus
whatever The principle was known to hand
full OF men who had confidence in it, and they
quietly put it in operation, and by patience, in
dustry and loyalty to one another and to their
plan they made it succeed. They believe, too,
that cooperation can Re made equally success
full in any business into which productive labor
enters moro largely than capital. OF course.
temperance, thrift, honesty and perseverance are
essential TO the accomplishment Of these as OF
any other ends. Nothing can be done without
those auxiiarics in any kind Of undertaking.
But the worisngmcn of Minneapolis have as
DR.. Shaw conclusivcy demonstrates, solved the
problem of cooperation as regards several in
dustries, and have disprovcd the assertion
already come to he considered almost automatic
that for some mysterious reason the principle |
of cooperation would not take root on Amer |
lcan soil. More than this, proiitsharing has
been successfully tested by one Minneapolis firm
Of millcrs, and thus another step in advance has
been effected. II ccI.d he wished that the in
tcrcstng and valuable pamphlet from which We
nave taken these facts could be distributed
among American workingmcn throughout the
country for we know Of no document more |
suggestive and encouraging.